"Unhappily?" he repeated. "Why do you say, unhappily?"

Mr. Jeffrey flushed and seemed to come out of some dream.

"Did I say unhappily?" he inquired. "Well, I repeat it; Miss Tuttle
would never have given me any cause for jealousy."

The coroner bowed and for the present dropped her name out of the
conversation.

"You speak again of the jealousy aroused in you by your wife's
impetuosities. Was this increased or diminished by the tone of
the few lines she left behind her?"

The response was long in coming. It was hard for this man to lie.
The struggle he made at it was pitiful. As I noted what it cost
him, I began to have new and curious thoughts concerning him and
the whole matter under discussion.

"I shall never overcome the remorse roused in me by those few
lines," he finally rejoined. "She showed a consideration for me -"

"What!"

The coroner's exclamation showed all the surprise he felt. Mr.
Jeffrey tottered under it, then grew slowly pale as if only through
our amazed looks he had come to realize the charge of inconsistency
to which he had laid himself open.